CONCORD, N.C. – The Charlotte Motor Speedway “roval” is set to make its highly anticipated debut this weekend.
In previous races on Charlotte’s 1.5-mile oval, Hendrick Motorsports has compiled 19 wins, the most all-time among teams at the venue. Johnson most recently won the 2016 Bank of America 500 and has an all-time record eight career victories at Charlotte. The organization has accumulated 62 top-five finishes, 100 top-10s and 5,037 laps led at Charlotte since 1984.
But this will mark the very first race on the 2.28-mile, 17-turn road-course oval.
More key facts and figures from Hendrick Motorsports’ history at Charlotte Motor Speedway as the organization prepares to tackle the new challenge can be found below.
Of the last eight inaugural races at new NASCAR Cup Series tracks, Hendrick Motorsports leads the way with the most wins, securing three – Gordon at Kansas Speedway in 2001, Auto Club Speedway in 1997 and Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1994. This weekend marks the very first race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway "roval."
- Hendrick Motorsports leads the way for teams all-time with 16 wins on road courses. Joe Gibbs Racing ranks second with 11 road-course victories. Hendrick Motorsports also holds 17 poles, 57 top-five finishes, 101 top-10s and 1,488 laps led on road courses, all of which are the most all-time. Jeff Gordon tops the list as the driver with the most road-course wins with nine. Between visits to Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International in 2018, three Hendrick Motorsports drivers have combined for four top-10 finishes, including Chase Elliott's Watkins Glen win in August.
- Hendrick Motorsports' 19 wins at Charlotte are tied with Dover International Speedway for the organization's second-most at a track, behind only Martinsville Speedway with 24 wins. The Charlotte victories have come via seven different drivers – Jimmie Johnson (eight), Gordon (five), Darrell Waltrip (two), Ken Schrader, Terry Labonte, Casey Mears and Kasey Kahne.
- Elliott, Alex Bowman and Johnson all rank among the top nine drivers in stage points earned during the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Elliott is third with 24 stage points, Bowman is sixth with 18 and Johnson is ninth with 10.
- Elliott is set to make his seventh NASCAR Cup Series road course start this weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway "roval." Earlier this season at Watkins Glen International, Elliott topped his career-best finish on a road course of fourth by collecting his first career Cup Series victory, clinching his spot in the 2018 playoffs. During his two trips to road courses this season (Sonoma Raceway, Watkins Glen), the 22-year-old driver started third in both and garnered one win and one top-five finish.
- In Elliott’s previous six road-course starts, he has collected two top-five finishes and three top-10s, averaging a starting position of 8.3 and finishing position of 10.0 (the best average road-course finish among all playoff drivers). Since 2017, Elliott has led 61 laps on road courses, the second-most laps led of any driver in that span (Martin Truex Jr. has the most laps led with 115).
- This season, Elliott tied his longest career top-10 streak, spanning six races. In the last nine races, Elliott has led 235 laps, fourth-most of any driver. He and the No. 9 team have been trending upwards in the last nine races with an average finish of 9.44 (fourth-best of all drivers in that span). Elliott’s impressive stats rank him in the top three among his competitors throughout the past nine races: his five top-five finishes are tied for second-most, his seven top-10s are tied for third-most and his 107 stage points are the most of any driver.
- Heading into the Round of 16 cutoff race at the roval, Elliott is currently ranked ninth in the playoff standings, 10 points above the cutoff line and 59 points behind the leader. Since the start of the playoffs in 2017, Elliott has collected seven top-five finishes in playoff races, tied for the second-most of all drivers behind only Truex, who has 11.
- Charlotte Motor Speedway is the home track for William Byron, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina. His national series career at the 1.5-mile oval track at Charlotte includes one top-10 finish (NASCAR Camping World Truck Series), while he earned finishes of 14th and 16th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and was running in the top 15 in the NASCAR Cup Series race in May before contact with the outside wall led to an early exit from the 600-mile race. Byron also earned an eighth-place finish in the Open event prior to the All-Star race in May.
- Byron has run 10 road-course races across four different NASCAR series – Cup, Xfinity, Truck and K&N Pro – finishing inside the top 10 in all but two of those races. His best road-course finish is a third-place result in the K&N Pro Series East race at Sonoma Raceway in June of this year while running double-duty. He scored a 25th-place finish in the Cup race that same weekend.
- In the August Cup race at Watkins Glen International, Byron scored a top-10 finish, coming home eighth in one of his best races of the year. His average running position at the Glen was 9.62, which was his third-best of the 2018 season, behind the April Richmond race (8.65) and the June Michigan race (9.17). No. 24 team crew chief Darian Grubb has had his share of success on road courses as well, scoring a win at Watkins Glen in 2009. Grubb is one of just 12 active crew chiefs with at least one road-course victory.
- Johnson scored an eighth-place finish at Richmond Raceway last weekend but still enters Sunday’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway as one of the four playoff drivers facing elimination. Historically, Charlotte has been good to Johnson, as he boasts eight wins on the oval. Currently he is 14th in the playoff standings, six points below the cutoff line.
- Johnson's next trip to Victory Lane will be his 84th points-paying NASCAR Cup Series win. He secured his 83rd in June 2017 to tie NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough for sixth on the all-time wins list. An 84th win would tie Hall of Famers Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison for fourth all-time.
- After last weekend’s event in Richmond, Virginia, Bowman currently sits 11th in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings, 80 markers behind the leader. The No. 88 team currently has a five-point buffer ahead of the 13th-place competitor, which would be the first eliminated after this weekend's race.
- In two road-course races this season, Bowman has captured one top-10 result, finishing ninth at Sonoma Raceway. The 25-year-old driver finished 14th at Watkins Glen in August after starting 22nd. Bowman captured valuable stage points in both road course events this season, finishing Stage 1 in seventh at Watkins Glen and seventh in Stage 2 in Sonoma. Earlier this season, Bowman made one start in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West at Sonoma. The driver started seventh but finished 24th after experiencing car issues on Lap 10.
- Last fall, Bowman captured his first national series victory during the NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The driver ran two Xfinity events for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2017. Bowman led 32 laps en route to his first career NASCAR victory after starting the 200-lap event from the fourth position.